I love that pic with Evan, Michelle and Irina. It's funny because when Irina was skating she would drive me crazy - I just thought she was so held up at the expense of skaters I liked (mostly Michelle lol). Now I see that pic and I have nothing but kind memories. It's good to remember how rivalries push the sport forward

I love that pic with Evan, Michelle and Irina. It's funny because when Irina was skating she would drive me crazy - I just thought she was so held up at the expense of skaters I liked (mostly Michelle lol). Now I see that pic and I have nothing but kind memories. It's good to remember how rivalries push the sport forward

I feel similarly. I've really stopped rooting for specific skaters, I just want everyone to do their best!

My predictions for this season (which given my history those of you with differing hopes might as well resign yourself to now, as I always end up right on something I feel strongly enough to declare):

1. Despite my thus far perfect prediction of Chan and his 5+ fall margin over the field which has made him the most controversial and hated skating champion in history bar none, his luck has run out, and he will end his career with a 3rd or 4th place finish in Sochi.

Feel free to bump if I even get a single of these wrong. As usual I wont.

BUMP:

On a more topical note, looks like Lysacek's quadless win is looking pretty good now compared to Hanyu and the other men.

For somebody who prides themselves on superior prediction abilities to everyone else - "those of you with differing hopes might as well resign yourself to now, as I always end up right on something I feel strongly enough to declare" - so far, two thirds of your predictions have been wrong. If Wagner and W/P fail to win bronze at Worlds, that's 5 out of 6 predictions incorrect.

My predictions for this season (which given my history those of you with differing hopes might as well resign yourself to now, as I always end up right on something I feel strongly enough to declare):

1. Despite my thus far perfect prediction of Chan and his 5+ fall margin over the field which has made him the most controversial and hated skating champion in history bar none, his luck has run out, and he will end his career with a 3rd or 4th place finish in Sochi.

2. Weaver & Poje (I even started a thread about this a few months ago) are going to have their best year yet, win the bronze in Sochi and the GPF, win their first ever grand prix assignment, and win a medal at Worlds.

3. Volosozhar & Trankov will not only win everything (admitedly an all too easy prediction) but gain the respect from fans they have not yet gotten in the process. They will also change their mind on their current plans to retire post Sochi and will continue on, despite the OGM.

4. Kim will easily win her 2nd OGM (and no this is not a safe prediction, as there are alot of Asada, Kostner, and Gold homers who seem certain said skater will win instead).

5. Wagner will win a medal at atleast one of the Olympics and Worlds.

6. Ando's comeback will go nowhere, and she will not make the Japanese Olympic team.

Feel free to bump if I even get a single of these wrong. As usual I wont.

And so, the final count:

Prediction 1: Wrong. However, he did get second at Olympics, not first, so I will give you that he didn't win it. Nonetheless, it was not third or 4th and he didn't have a huge backward slide overall this year, at least IMO.
Prediction 2: Wrong except for as to that they did win a medal at worlds. They did not get any of the other three medals you said they would.
Prediction 3: Wrong as to their being undefeated and IMO as to their gaining respect from fans they didn't have before... their Jesus program REALLY? I think they are respected but neither more nor less than before. You are right that they plan to continue on.
Prediction 4: Wrong, and at the hands of Sotnikova too. Even if she had won it would not have been easily- she and Carolina and Adelina were all too close to call it easy.
Prediction 5: Wrong unless you count team medal, which I think would be ridiculous as I believe this post was made before the team medals were known about, and even if it wasn't I think that clearly was not what you meant.
Prediction 6. Right if you consider making the Oly team the only indication of a comeback going somewhere. However, I think her comeback was a lot more successful than most people thought- she easily qualified to Nationals, and did well there. She far from shamed herself.

So by my count you are 1 for 6. Not bad for someone who's always right What are your predictions for this coming year so I can resign myself to them now?

Prediction 1: Wrong. However, he did get second at Olympics, not first, so I will give you that he didn't win it. Nonetheless, it was not third or 4th and he didn't have a huge backward slide overall this year, at least IMO.
Prediction 2: Wrong except for as to that they did win a medal at worlds. They did not get any of the other three medals you said they would.
Prediction 3: Wrong as to their being undefeated and IMO as to their gaining respect from fans they didn't have before... their Jesus program REALLY? I think they are respected but neither more nor less than before. You are right that they plan to continue on.
Prediction 4: Wrong, and at the hands of Sotnikova too. Even if she had won it would not have been easily- she and Carolina and Adelina were all too close to call it easy.
Prediction 5: Wrong unless you count team medal, which I think would be ridiculous as I believe this post was made before the team medals were known about, and even if it wasn't I think that clearly was not what you meant.
Prediction 6. Right if you consider making the Oly team the only indication of a comeback going somewhere. However, I think her comeback was a lot more successful than most people thought- she easily qualified to Nationals, and did well there. She far from shamed herself.

So by my count you are 1 for 6. Not bad for someone who's always right What are your predictions for this coming year so I can resign myself to them now?

Good luck getting a response out of pangtongfan.

Also, I love how he tried to make his prediction of W/P medaling at Worlds seem like some "bold prediction", when he clearly meant that he expected them to medal at Worlds behind D/W and V/M, but lucked out that V/M, D/W and B/S withdrew, and I/K and P/B had problematic SDs. As for "boldly predicting" they would win bronze after all the withdrawals were announced, 10 other individuals on this board also predicted that W/P would medal as well, some even correctly predicting they would win silver over P/B.

Oh, but he did get that Miki Ando wouldn't make the Japanese team! A huge surprise that was to all of us. All hail the master predictor, PTF.

This thread title kind of explains why I don't think Patrick Chan will be at the next Olympics and why the same situation applies to many other skaters, as well.

It's a nice idea in theory, but it's very hard today to leave competition for a while and then come back. You lose ground technically while other skaters surpass you, and you stop paying your dues with the judges and being around for the political aspects of the sport.

I never really was convinced that Lysacek, Weir, etc. would return. Plushenko surprised me, but that was the exception, and look at the toll it took on him physically.

In men's it is particularly difficult. It's remarkable Plushenko was able to regain his technical ability but in 2010 he was also helped by the field being technically subpar... and still lost to a guy with no quad. He's got more of a killer instinct and drive than any other skater, certainly more than Lysacek. But Lysacek's injury held him back and there was no point competing if he felt unable to. As much as some call it attention seeking only to pull out because he thought he might lose (which is perhaps why Plu skipped Euros), there is also the possibility that he was legitimately injured.

WASHINGTON — 2010 Olympic figure skating champion Evan Lysacek is pain free for the first time since August and has been doing jumps, including triples, in training the last four weeks.

“Whatever capacity I’m skating at, I don’t really know right now, but it’s nice to be back,” Lysacek said at the Best of U.S. Awards on Wednesday.

Lysacek, 28, missed the Sochi Olympics with a torn labrum in his left hip first suffered in August. He officially gave up his bid for Sochi on Dec. 10, saying a doctor told him he risked permanent damage if he continued to train at that point.

The injury is healed now, but Lysacek isn’t ready to say if or when he will return to competition after spending 14 weeks off the ice.

“Definitely a little premature for that,” he said. “But I’m back on the ice, looking at doing some shows and dipping my toes back in the water.”

Good for him. Hopefully he'll at least be able to perform, if not compete. It's a long shot to ever compete again, and he's dragging it out, but when you're the most recent men's OGM it's hardly unexpected for news sources to not write articles about your recovery. I don't think any of us are holding out on him, but if he does compete again, I wish him well.